Early in the year I started trail running.  I think I started out too hard and haven't run since that first week in the spring.  I started again this last week, but at a much easier pace.  It's fun for me, if I take it easy.

On another note, we need to send our best wishes to one of our friends who has been a guest to this blog and is riding the "Heck of the North" bicycle race this weekend.  This is a 100 mile endurance run and he is riding with some very fine company indeed.  I encourage you click on here or on Heck of the North to follow this ride.  I would say good luck, but CAD is good enough so it isn't luck he needs...BEST WISHES CAD ! ! !   

Getting that time of the year again.  Time to clean the chimney, cover the wood pile, straighten out the garage, change the gear lube in the lower unit of the outboards, cover the septic with straw and all the other little odds and ends to winterize things.  Snow and ice could be around these parts in a little over a month.  But there is one thing I'm not winterizing yet...Studs on the fixed gear.  I think that can wait for a while yet.

2010 Chequamegon

I was lucky enough to be drawn for the Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival this year and although I suffered this year it was still fun.  Congratulations goes out to Brian Matter for winning this year.  I think he had won twice before, this being his third.  Also Darrin Braun had a good race.  Both Brian and Darrin are very good riders, but more importantly, they are both very nice people.  We did not get a chance to see Darrin or his fiancee Lynn, but I did see Brian cheering people on.

 

KISS showed up and took third in the Tandem category.  Very impressive indeed.

Lining up.

The start was in Hayward WI.

This was the destination.  The big top Chequamegon at the Telemark Ski Hill near Cable WI.

I finished, but suffered just the same.  This year I noticed the beautiful scenery the course takes, as I knew early on, this was the last of these events for me, so enjoy it.  I didn't feel it for the first 10 miles, then felt good up till 1.5 miles left...then cramps, big time cramps.  I missed two charity rides this weekend and one of these I had rode 5 times in the past.  I am thinking my time in the future can be better spent riding for a cure of breast cancer or whatever.  The charity rides will be the ones for me.  Oh, and they aren't as taxing on this old guy.

Gravel and Wind

I rode the cross bike on a mostly gravel 25 mile ride.  Wind, did someone say wind?...no but I did.  Lots of wind on this one, and I knew before I left the house what I was in for. 

The roads were a little wet, but not bad.  I think there were white caps on some of the puddles though.

I saw three cars in 25 miles and that number could increase, as hunting season is here.  I did see a couple wheelers also.  I had a hard time seeing them, as they were in full camo.  Less traffic is just one of the benefits of riding the gravel.

I now know that I could be in better shape.  Wind is a good judge of that.

Riding the gravel equals a Goooood Time ! ! !

Guaranteed.

Family stuff

We have doing some family stuff lately.  Last weekend one of my cousins said he would butcher one of his pigs if we would cook it.  We of course said "Deal, if you help cut it up."  He and his wife dropped it off at our cabin all cleaned and ready to go...That was Great.  Pic below is what a pig looks like after rotating for several hours at the above temperature.

We had about 100 people for the annual picnic at our cabin.  I will tell you that it doesn't get much better than family and friends getting together.  We have a lot of food and then finish it off with homemade Ice Cream.  It seems every year I intend to take pictures to document it, but when you have that much going on, there just hasn't been time to take pictures.  One of the comments I hear every year is that it sure is good to have a family get together when it isn't a funeral.  I would say there is some truth to that, but I would also add, that it's nice to have family and friends together for no other reason than to eat and shoot the shit.  That is priceless.

Lately I have been doing a bicycle ride, then cutting some fire wood, (a Brick one might say), so today had us hauling some of said firewood up to my father-in law.  He is 82 years young and still wants to burn wood, so we help him out by cutting it for him.  Janice and I are also very lucky to have help to do the hauling, as he lives about 30 miles one way from our house.  We had five trucks and a trailer this year.

All loaded and ready to go.

Again, a BIG THANKS goes out to our children, their fiancees, my sister and her husband for helping us with the wood.  Also Al, otherwise known as BAM.

La La Land

Dumbo on a Bicycle

I have been internet challenged recently, but I do have a little story for you.

So I know this guy...he decided to ride one of the largest mountain bike rides in the Midwest...just doing it for a good time, nothing serious and although he trained very little, he took it easy the week before the ride...eating carbs and not pedaling...He lubed up his ride...checked the suspension over...headed over to register the night before the ride...Only to find out he was a week early... I had one of the best laughs in a long time...and this one is on me, because I have only myself thank. 

Looking Forward

I will get out Saturday for long, lazy and putzzee ride on the road bike.

In about a week I will be on the mountain bike, and like these trees, just trying to hang on as long as I can.   

Hopefully my head won't be too far in the clouds like this lake...Lake of the Clouds.

Training

As of late, this has been my training for this years Chequamegon Fat Tire Festival.  I pedal the bike and then go cut a truck load of firewood...except for today where as I played in a golf tournament and then cut firewood.  I am old, not fast and fortunate enough to know this, so with that being said, this is as serious as I can get for this event.  My goal this year...have some fun and FINISH it.  Don't care how long it takes me, just cross the finish line on two wheels or two feet.  I think I am not asking for much.  

More Gravel'in

Early in the summer I had checked out a new route to the cabin using gravel/sand roads as much as possible.  I knew the mountain bike would be the one to ride, as there are some very sandy areas.  With the amount of rain we have received this last month or so, I also knew it was there for the taking.  So with that in mind I headed out.

I rode the Giant Anthem mountain bike because of the 2.1" tires and the amount of sand roads I needed to ride.  I had intentions when I started out that I would be walking some of it, but with the recent rainfalls, it was sweeeeet! ! !

When there are puddles like this standing in sand country, you know we have had rain.

This is where the St. Croix River crosses the St. Croix Trail.  There are normally rocks one needs to navigate while in a canoe in this section of the river...not today.  Point the way and enjoy the ride.

It is very seldom I use the granny, but I have to admit to using it on this ride.

I did see a few bear hunters on these scenic back roads.  The season isn't open yet, but they are allowed to practice using their dogs.  They run the bear with their dogs until the bear is tree'd, then call them off.  In a couple of weeks the bear will not be so lucky, as there will be a loud boom if it gets tree'd again. 

One our local trout streams...could be some very difficult fishing now.

One thing about riding near rivers in this area is...there is nice down hill going to the river, but a person must pay the piper when one climbs back out the other side.

The Perkins trail has some hills too.

I feel very lucky to have gotten this ride in.  It registered at the end to be 47+ miles with 1200 ft of climb, and I know I can easily add another 25 with the right conditions.  Another goooood time.

Gravel Weekend

I made a nice gravel ride this weekend to the family cabin.  Logged about 47 miles of mostly gravel and sand roads.  I will load up some pics later as it is nearing my bed time and I just got in the house now from a busy weekend. 

Single Trackin' Fun

On our way back from Mellen, we stopped by the Makwa mountain bike trail head east of Seeley.  The trails in this area are made and maintained by CAMBA.  Although I do not actively work on these trails, I am a card carrying member.  The CAMBA trail network is phenomenal.  Click the CAMBA to find out more.  The Makwa is in my opinion, by far more fun to ride than any trail I have been on.  It has some flow sections that are unreal...then leading into more technical sections on the southern most end before it meets up the Hatchery Trail.  I dropped off at the trail head and rode the Makwa and the Hatchery.  We treated this ride like a canoe trip, where as Janice dropped me off at one point and picked me up at another.  When I finished up, the Garmin registered 15.87 miles of point A to point B of pure single track fun.   

The flow sections are fantastic and are the most fun for me.

Along the trail sits this picnic table with a rather unique cooker.

This is new since the last time I was here, and I almost missed it, as there was alternate route around this.  I am glad I took the right turn.

I made this ride late in the afternoon with the finishing temp at 94 and the humidity very high, much like the last ride I was on.  One of the disadvantages of riding it when I did, other than the temp, was the fact that I was finishing into the sun when the technical sections came up.  It isn't that it is that technical, but there are some minor rock gardens that made it very difficult to see the lines...that and the rocks were wet and slippery from the high humidity.  It was indeed fun and I would do it all over again. 

Copper Falls

On our way back from the U.P., we stopped in at Copper Falls State Park at the northeastern corner of Wisco.  It must the year of the falls for us, as we have visited many.  With the temps in the mid 90's and the humidity the worst I have seen, smart me decided on a mountain bike ride.  There need to be hills to have water falls of any size, and the mtb trails here used them there hills, as the picture above proves out.

Rough terrain...really???

We saw this little critter while we were both on a walk.

The water here is starting downhill.

And...A little more downhill action.

A double whammy here.

One more from a distance.

The walking trail runs along both sides of the river, so to get to the other side, there are 100 of these rock made steps on one side and 125 on the other.  If you stay around these steps long, you will be witness to what kind of shape people are in. 

After the walk and bike ride, we decided to head southwest about 25 miles to the little town of Clam Lake, WI. to see if we could spot any Elk.  Wisconsin started an Elk reintroduction

in 1995.  We stopped at the gas station in town to see if we could get some local info on where we may spot some.  The nice gentleman give us the name of a couple roads to check.  We spotted 2 bulls and 1 cow on our journey on the back country roads.  There is one in the picture above, if you look close enough.

Another bull elk...this one was collared with a radio transmitter.  Not a big one, but a good close up view.  We didn't get good pictures of the others as it was getting dark when we spotted them.

Back to the ride...It wasn't a long ride, but I rode hard and with the temps and humidity, it kicked back.